THE PRESIDENT: I've just had the really enjoyable experience of visiting
with some Iraqi citizens who voted in the elections today. And you might
notice, they've got their -- got the little ink-stained fingers there.

And, first of all, I was struck by how joyous they were to be able to vote
for a government -- a permanent government under a new constitution. We
take it for granted in America because we tend to -- we vote quite often in
this country. These good folks got to vote for the first time for a
permanent government.

And there's a lot of -- lot of joy, as far as I'm concerned, in seeing the
Iraqi people accomplish this major milestone in the march to democracy.
Millions of people voted. And I haven't seen all the tabulations of the
vote, but we're certain that the turnout was significant and that the
violence was down.

And, first, I want to congratulate the Iraqi citizens for being courageous
and in defying the terrorists and refusing to be cowed into not voting. I
believe freedom is universal. I believe the Iraqi citizen cares just as
much about freedom and living a free life as the American citizen does.

Secondly, I want to thank our embassy for doing such good work there and
working with the Iraqi citizens to get this vote off. And I want to thank
the international community for participating in these elections. This is
a major step forward in achieving our objective, which is an ally -- having
a democratic Iraq, a country able to sustain itself and defend itself, a
country that will be an ally in the war on terror, and a country which will
send such a powerful example to others in the region, whether they live in
Iran or Syria, for example.

I've assured these good Iraqi citizens that the United States will stay
with them and complete this -- complete this job. They've expressed
concern about listening to the commentary that we'll leave before the job
is done -- they don't have to worry. We're doing the right thing. And
we've got partners in peace with the Iraqi citizens.

This is a crucial part of the war on terror, as is the Patriot Act. The
Patriot Act was passed four years ago. It gave our law enforcement the
tools necessary to help protect the -- America, the same tools that law
enforcement uses, for example, against drug dealers. The Patriot Act is
set to expire. The House of Representatives, recognizing the value of the
Patriot Act, voted in a bipartisan way to extend the Patriot Act. And now
there are senators who are filibustering the Patriot Act. That is a bad
decision for the security of the United States. I call upon the Senate to
end the filibuster, and to pass this important legislation so that we have
the tools necessary to defend the United States of America in a time of
war.

I want to thank you all again for coming. May God bless your citizens.
May God bless a free Iraq. I appreciate you being here.